Pent Farm Airfield

Following the December 2016 review in Pilot magazine, I was inspired to fly beyond Lashenden/Headcorn to Pent Farm between Ashford & Folkestone. The grass strip whilst long is not perhaps the easiest to spot from the air, in part because the field is not rectilinear as bushes along the runway undulate in and out with the East Stour River (stream) and a track which crosses the runway . Having said that, width is not a problem, nor is length, but this really is a field where a couple on minutes of familiarisation with the help of Google maps/similar pays dividends. What is harder to appreciate is that the north east end of the runway is significantly higher and is in the lee of higher ground, so landing on 07 is advisable if at all possible. For similar reasons taking off downhill on 25 makes sense. This is the home to a rather splendid Harvard http://www.vintageaero.co.uk and several Tiger Clubs http://www.tigerclub.co.uk We were greeted by Chris Reynolds who flies as well as operates the Farm. PPR on either 01303 863180 or 07850 628981 is the thing to do. One the day we were asked to fly circuits to the north west. The radio was unmanned so making blind calls on SafetyCom 135.475

Whilst the wind was forecast as a northerly, we were surprised to see the windsock blowing across the runway. This was at odds with the windsock to the north of the strip on the ridge, from which a helicopter operates. The hills clearly effect the air around this field.

A very reasonable £ 10 landing fee was payable for as SEP, placed at the back of the folder located on the desk on the right of the right hand hangar. Beyond that to the right is a small stand alone structure where complimentary tea, coffee AND biscuits were to be had. No running water, but empty cup go into the plastic tub to be washed up later. We didn’t refuel, but presumable it’s available if requested in advance. Not much to see/do other than overfly the white cliffs of Dover, but a small friendly strip nevertheless.